Apogee converters on the move

frobisher

I think I'm going to upgrade my A/D conversion. 2 inputs would be fine, something mobile would be great, good built in mic pres would be an added bonus. Any love, hate or experience round these parts with the Apogee Duet or mini-me?

PaulBrewer

I have both - and both sound very good. However the mini me's output (minijack) leaves a bit to be desired.

I've not done an A/B yet.

le_tigre

It's a bigger interface, and hence is more expensive, but the Metric Halo ULN-2 is terrific. The pres are top notch, better than any I've heard integrated with an audio interface, and I'd say you'd need to hear a few shootouts before definitively pronouncing the Apogee's converters superior. Furthermore, Metric Halo recently released a hardware upgrade for both of their interfaces, adding massive DSP that can run some pretty fine software right in the unit. It's eminently portable and can run off of 6-pin FW buss power.

The only downside {besides the presumed expense in Ireland} is that it's Mac-only. Sorry if it's overkill, but I like their kit a lot.

studiorat

How portable do you want? I lugged a couple of 19" units and a laptop to a village in Morocco recently. The Apogee AD16x turned out to be portable enough!!! It was the 30 meters of multicore that was the problem:D



I wouldn't limit myself to something just 'cause it fitted in a shoulder bag, there's a few nice 19" bags that will hold a laptop and a few bits and pieces too that will fit into an overhead compartment on a plane!

That said the Metric Halo does get good reviews from the location guys on gearslutz, I've also got a softspot for the RME 400 both are half rack units.

You know yourself anyway, you get what you pay for!!!

le_tigre

The Mobile IO interfaces are a little bigger than half-rack - just over 13", FWIW.

MOTU have a nice bag; they introduced it around the same time as their Traveler interface. It's probably just some rebadged Targus bag, but it looks good and gets the job done.